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AN 



ORATION 



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ON THE OCCASION 



OF THE NATIONAL FAST; 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 






ACADEMY OF SACRED MUSIC, 



IN THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE, NEW-YORK, 



ON FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 14, 1841. 



BY EDWARD N. KIRK. 



NEW-YORK: 

OFFICE OF THE IRIS, 647 BROADWAY, 
JOHN S. TAYLOR & CO., 145 NASSAU-STREET. 

1841. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, 

BY GEORGE H. HOUGHTON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. 



Piercy & Reed, Printers, 9 Spruce-St. 



ADVERTISEMENT 



The introductory remarks of this Address have refer- 
ence to two things which may be here more distinctly pre- 
sented. The one is, those widely-circulated notices of the 
meeting, on the evening of the Fast Day, which were in- 
tended to indicate the subject of the Address. This is 
their form : " Rev. E. N. Kirk will deliver an Eulogy on 
the Death of the late President Harrison." These notices 
are alluded to here, both because of the blunder they con- 
tain, and for the wrong impression they were calculated to 
make. The author of the < Oration is not responsible for 
their awkward use of language, in speaking of an Eulogy on 
Death, where they meant to promise an Eulogy on the Pre- 
sident. And moreover, although the personal qualities of 
that great and good man are incidentally introduced, yet 
the discourse was in no way designed to be, nor, we think, 
can it properly be designated, an Eulogy. The other allu- 
sion is to the fears of many excellent persons, that the 
Academy of Sacred Music would give a secular character 



IV 

to the latter part of a day designed to be as sacred as the 
Sabbath. Nothing was farther from their desires, nor 
from those of the speaker. Whether the fears were 
well or ill-founded, must be determined by those who 
heard, and by those who now may read. 

E. N. K. 



ADDRESS 



The specialty of the case may justify a preliminary 
remark. Many who desire to see this day and its rites 
so observed as to meet the Divine approbation, and secure 
the greatest degree of the Divine blessing, have feared that 
the present exercise might strike a discordant note, and 
disturb the plaintive harmony of a nation's dirge. It is of 
course manifest that we do not participate in this fear. 
Nor should it be alluded to here, did it not furnish us a 
good occasion for introducing the fact, that the general es- 
timate of Sacred Music is too low. If the fear is founded 
upon the notice that there was to be a Concert and an 
Eulogy on the Death of Gen. Harrison, we are not surprised 
at it. A Concert given in reality for the public amusement, 
but calling itself " sacred," were as ill-timed and sacrile- 
gious, as it were unfair toward those places of professed- 
ly secular amusement, which, in deference to public sen- 
timent, have this night closed their doors. 



And again ; it were as much a violation of good taste, 
as of religious propriety, to devote the hours of such a 
day to an " Eulogy on Death," as your advertisements 
have it, or an Eulogy on our departed chieftain, as your 
advertisements partly state and partly imply. 

And yet again ; if he, who knows not this Academy, 
nor its principles, aims, and practice, presumes that its 
members are not acquainted with the true nature of Sa- 
cred Music, and its relations to such occasions as the pre- 
sent, and therefore fears that the holy art will be perverted, 
and the holy season desecrated, we need no other vindica- 
tion than the exercises of this evening. 

But if the fear alluded to, implies that Sacred Music 
should not occupy the hours of such a day, then we must 
be indulged in our brief plea. And it is altogether based 
upon this fact, that the elements of Sacred Music ; sacred 
poetry expressed by appropriate melody and harmony, 
have not on earth a more appropriate sphere than that 
which we here assign them. 

A nation is mourning its bereavement in mutual condo- 
lence ! A nation is mourning its sins in lowly prostration 
before the offended Deity ! The active stir of business 
is suspended, the voice of mirth is hushed, the face of 
beauty is veiled, the steps of millions hasten tremblingly 
to the house of prayer — the honorable and the base are 
gathered in the temples of mercy — ten thousand suppli- 
cating voices are raising their imploring cry, " Spare, 
Lord, thy people ; give not thy heritage to reproach" — the 



strength of the nation is feebleness before God, lofty looks 
are bowed, and proud spirits are contrite — the intellect, 
the heart, the will of a free and mighty people lies low 
before the mighty Governor of the Universe. He has ta- 
ken away our staff and our strength ; He has removed 
the stay in which we trusted; and thus has cast the na- 
tion upon his own naked arm ; and we are made to feel 
an awful nearness to the Omnipotent. He has taken 
away the veil which hid Him and His authority from our 
unbelieving eyes ; and a sinful people seem to be ushered 
unanointed into that presence where angels tremble, and 
archangels veil their faces ! Well may we weep. We 
do weep. The voice of lamentation is wafted like the 
sigh of the summer wind from the Northern Lakes to the 
Southern Gulf, from the Atlantic Sea to the Rocky Moun- 
tains. It is in the presence of Death we are weeping. 
We had but just rejoiced as a nation. Part of us had ho- 
nestly opposed the choice ; but the choice once made, pa- 
triotism carried it over party, and the man of the North- 
West became the man of the country. Never since the 
first days of the republic, had there been such enthusiasm 
on the accession of a Chief Magistrate. The heart of the 
people was honestly, profoundly glad ; but scarcely had 
the excessive, nay, the idolatrous congratulations ceased, 
ere the whisper of fear began to spread ; the sun had 
barely lifted his cheering disk upon our horizon, ere a dark 
cloud was drawn toward it by a mighty and invisible hand. 
The people trembled, they supplicated ; but the decree 



8 

had gone forth ; the mercy that would save us from total 
ruin, arrested us kindly, though sternly ; it gathered us 
around a vacated throne, a pallid corpse, a silent grave, and 
changed the voice of joy into lamentation ; that amid 
blasted hopes and broken hearts, we might pause to "hear 
the voice of the rod and him who appointed it." 

Death is always formidable to man as an inhabiter of 
time and an inheritor of this lovely planet, so full of God's 
bounty. We are loth to part from familiar scenes ; we 
are by instinct tenacious of life. And when we see any 
fellow-creature die, we start as from a spectral hand that 
writes our own doom. But when Death strikes a high 
mark ; when it treads unrelenting upon hopes and hearts, 
breaks through the life guard of the throne, and despises 
the supplicating millions ; our terror is enhanced. It has 
entered our palace ; it has conquered our unvanquished 
defender ; it has dimmed the eye that watched only for 
his country's welfare ; it has closed the ear that was quick 
to a nation's complaint, and open to the cry of the needy ; 
it has chilled the heart that throbbed with paternal love 
over the people that called him father ; it has palsied that 
hand, so honestly, so honorably pledged to defend the 
Constitution, and to execute the laws. As was said of 
the death of the great Maccabeus, so may we say here : 
" At the first tidings of this dreadful accident, all the 
cities of Judah were moved, streams of tears flowed from 
the eyes of all their inhabitants. They were struck for a 
time, dumb, immoveable. An effort of grief at length 



9 

breaking this long and sad silence, with a voice interrupted 
by sobbings, that sadness, pity and fear were wringing 
from their hearts, they exclaimed, ' How is this mighty 
fallen, he who saved the people of Israel !' At these 
cries Jerusalem redoubled her wailings ; the vaults of 
the temple trembled, the Jordan was troubled, and all its 
banks echoed the sound of these mournful words : ' How 
is the mighty fallen, that saved the people of Israel.' " 

Yes, the nation feels ; and to express her feeling, be- 
hold this day of fasting and prayer ! Yes, America, 
" Atheistical America," who has no national church, no 
national creed, no national clergy ; America is now in the 
dust before her God. To our friends and to our foes in 
Europe, who ask, Where is your religion ? we reply, Be- 
hold it ! With you it may be form and state policy to 
appoint and observe a fast. But with us, none can doubt 
that it is a genuine expression of public sentiment. Here 
is no pageant, no pomp, no royal patronage to encourage 
our piety. It is a free people invited by a man who has 
and who wishes no other authority than such as the peo- 
ple have given him, to meet the chastisement of our com- 
mon Father. And we have done it. We have done it, 
because we recognized that God has afflicted us, and that 
for our sins. Such is the object of this day and of its ex- 
ercises. But what can more appropriately enter into the 
design of this day, than penitential song ? It is answer 
enough to this, to refer to the dirges and elegies of Jere- 
miah and David. Whether then we contemplate this fast 

2 



10 

as an expression of true grief or as an act of homage and 
worship toward a God holy, and yet inclined to forgive the 
penitent ; Sacred Music is a most desirable auxiliary in 
our solemn public exercises. 

But we leave the vindication, and enter more directly 
upon the designs of this day. In the expressive language 
of the prophet, we have paused to " hear the rod and him 
who hath appointed it." This day has reference to the 
past and the future. The rod is upon us, and it speaks to 
us of the sins which it rebukes ; and it hath another voice, 
to tell of the kindness of Him who hath appointed it. Its 
lessons are rich, varied, most important, nay, indispensa- 
ble. America, America! my dear, my native land, hear 
the voice of the Lord ! Americans, my countrymen, shall 
we not hear this voice ; shall we fail to profit by these 
lessons ? Shall we not become better observers of Provi- 
dence, and commune more closely with Him " in whom 
we live and move, and have our being ?" 

THE VOICE OF THE ROD. 

1. We are learning our dependence on God. Nation 
after nation, for nearly six thousand years, has been trying 
to obtain prosperity independently of the favor of Jehovah. 
The experiment has been fairly made ; made under every 
variety of circumstances. But no one nation has ever yet 
truly prospered, and answered the true and obvious ends 
of the social state ; because no nation, not even the Jew- 
ish, has yet governed itself permanently and faithfully by 



11 

the will, and under the supreme authority of Jehovah. And 
hence the most of them have run a career of ambition, 
crime, and luxury, to dreadful and utter ruin ; while others 
have remained in a state of stagnant, though sometimes 
splendid barbarism. America sees the open page of his- 
tory spread before her. Infidelity and Christianity are 
both expounding it to her, each in its own way. The one 
says — they fell, or they failed to rise and reach the point 
of perfection to which society and humanity evidently tend, 
because they had adopted wrong political notions. The 
other says — no, it was simply and solely because they cas t 
off the fear of God. 

The political and diplomatic errors which led imme- 
diately to their destruction, had their origin in national im 1 - 
piety. The universe waits to see to which Instructor the 
young republic will accord its faith. Untold and unborn 
millions await this decision. The exercises of this day 
may have an important bearing on it. And well may the 
ministers of Christ feel as they do feel, their souls pressed 
with unusual responsibilities. May the Spirit of the Lord 
be our aid. 

The holy oracles proclaim that Jehovah ruleth among 
the armies of heaven, and doeth his pleasure among the 
inhabitants of the earth ; that it is he who lifts up, and 
he who casts down. This was believed by our fathers. 
But the Atheism of the European illuminati rolled its per- 
nicious waves over us soon after jhe revolution; and we 
have had many manifestations of that Scepticism which 



12 

denies to the Son of God the supreme control of human 
affairs. What, through our dulness, the sacred oracles 
failed to teach, He has been teaching bv the rod of His 
chastisement. And the lessons have not been in vain. 
I select a single specimen of the tone of the secular 
press in our country, in reference to this fast ; a tone to 
us full of promise for our country : 

" National Fast. — We hope to see evidences that the 
occasion of a National Fast will not have passed by as a 
mere formality. We hope to see proofs that the National 
Heart can be touched by the spirit of devotion. 

" It is nearly time that this and other Nations, professing 
to be Christian, should break some of the links in the base 
chain that binds them to the foot-stool of Belial, Moloch and 
Mammon. The spirit of avarice especially should be 
crushed. It is in this country a whirlpool that is engulph- 
ing all, with hardly an exception. The base pursuit of 
gain, with little regard to the honesty of the means, has 
become the disgrace of some of those most eminent for in- 
tellect, and heretofore highest in public estimation. 

" We hope that by divine co-operation the hearts of our 
countrymen will be ' touched to finer issues.' For we are 
sure that a mere money-loving and money-seeking nation, 
must sink under the enervating indulgences, which the 
sordid spirit brings in its train." 

" Then look at the frequency with which the most enor- 
mous crimes are perpetrated ; the frauds, embezzlements, 
defalcations, and forgeries, which greet our ears on every 
side ; the prevalence of Sabbath-breaking, intemperance 
and profaneness, (though in these particulars we hope 
there has been some amelioration of late.) Look too at 



13 

the delicate state of our foreign relations. How easily, by 
an unfortunate turn of affairs, — by the occurrence of some 
' untoward' event, — may we become involved in a bloody 
and protracted war ! Now these accidents, as we call them, 
are entirely within the control of the Being before whom 
the nation bows to-day, in reverence and humiliation. And 
if, as individuals, we look at our personal demerit in the 
sight of the Holy One, surely, taking all these things into 
account, and a thousand more which will suggest them- 
selves to the reflecting mind, we shall find reason enough 
for setting apart, as a nation, one day for fasting, humilia- 
tion, and prayer." 

From the Spring of 1837 to the present day, there has 
been a powerful tendency of the public mind back toward 
the recognition of a minutely superintending Providence 
Events which human prudence could not foresee nor pro. 
vide against, indicated the movings of an invisible hand, 
and suggested the counsellings of a Superior Will ; blow 
followed blow, cloud came after cloud, until the close of 
the last political campaign. Then hope revived ; and con- 
fidence was returning. The country had chosen a tried 
man, a man whom his enemies opposed, not from personal, 
but political considerations ; who had, in fact, no enemies 
but such as envy made. There he sat, calm at the helm, 
inspiring new confidence in our institutions, new hopes for 
our country. The Lord saw it, and saw that we had not 
yet learned where to put our trust. And again ; the pres- 
sure of his hand must be felt. The rod is therefore upon 
us. It teaches us, that while political sagacity has its 
sphere, and that a very important one ; yet, after all, there 



14 

remain so many occult causes which modify and baffle all 
his plans and enterprises, that man in his very philosophy 
ought to seek for a sure director of those unseen influences, 
those hidden but mighty powers, which, more than human 
foresight, prudence, patriotism or power, determine the fate 
of empires. My countrymen — God is teaching us that He 
reigns over us, that his favor is life. We must learn that 
lesson, or perish. We must learn to recognise, to fear, to 
obey, to trust, to supplicate God, who has revealed himself 
in his Word. We had in the late President all that we 
can ask in a Chief Magistrate of a Constitutional Govern- 
ment. He met the wants of our hearts as well as those of 
our judgments ; and therefore we loved as well as trusted 
him. Probably there is scarcely the man living who com- 
bines, both in his history and character, so many of the 
qualifications that office, requires. He was evidently fitted 
of God for the station and its responsible duties. He had 
the practical talents for governing, which are more needed 
there than in any other office of the republic. All this has 
been proved by incontestable evidence. Through a space 
of at least twenty years, he was called upon to act in the 
varied character of Commissioner to the Indians, Secretary 
of the Territory, Legislator, Commander in Chief, and 
Governor. Here he displayed all those practical talents, 
that purity of purpose, that knowledge of men, of public 
affairs, of the principles of government, which his last sta- 
tion demands. He had, in fact, been remarkably trained 
amid the horrors of the border-warfare, the difficulties of 



15 

treating with the treacherous savage, and the rude settler. 
But as he rose from station to station, he became more and 
more the very shield and pillar of that whole North-Wes- 
tern Territory. By treaty he procured the right of the soil, 
by the prowess of his arm he defended it, by the wisdom of 
his counsels he governed it. There were times when the In- 
dians renewed their bloody system of border-warfare. 
Once, shortly after the battle of Tippecanoe, they com- 
menced their depredations on the borders of Ohio, Indiana 
and Illinois, at points so far distant from each other, as to 
distract public attention and create a universal panic. As 
the murders became more frequent, and more aggravated 
by the cruelties which attended their perpetration, the alarm 
increased, until the w r hole frontier became an extensive 
scene of dismay and suffering ; the labors of husbandry 
were suspended, families deserted their homes and sought 
safety in flight, and Governor Harrison found himself sur- 
rounded by fugitives claiming protection, and by sufferers 
demanding vengeance. There his patriotism and capacity 
and energy were called into full exercise. The country 
was put into the best posture for defence, the enemy was 
met at every point where his approach could be antici- 
pated, and the defenceless inhabitants owed their safety 
under God, to his well directed energies. Of his integrity > 
it is enough to state, that after having had more power 
than many an eastern prince, over men's persons and pro- 
perty, more opportunity to enrich himself in appropriating 
the best lands of the world ; by one treaty alone, securing 



16 

fifty-one million acres of the richest country in the West, 
and the most valuable mineral region in the Union, he lived 
and died poor, and that not from prodigality, but integrity- 
He never used his immense power and influence to procure 
stations for his own relatives, if we except his private Sec- 
retary. And soon after his resignation in the army, while 
the wants of a large family were pressing upon him, he 
made up his mind to ask an appointment for one of his 
sons in West Point. But before he had done it, a poor 
boy, a neighbor's child, made a personal application to the 
General, to secure him a place in that Institution. He im- 
mediately waived the application for his son, and procured 
the place for this poor lad, who is now a distinguished 
citizen of Indiana. Who can doubt the integrity of that 
man ! Equally strong was his sense of honor, which was 
to the country a pledge that merit, and not favoritism nor 
party-interests, would secure the places of trust. A politi- 
cal opponent, who had known him for forty years, said : 
" General Harrison never had a particle of dishonesty 
about him ; he was honest in politics, honest in religion, 
honest in every thing." His benevolence was as remarka- 
ble as the other qualities of his noble mind. And it was 
just that kind of benevolence which is the antagonist of am- 
bition. There has been much reproach cast upon ou r 
government in regard to the Indians ; but he who becomes 
familiar with General Harrison's history, will not make 
the charge of cruelty without many and strong qualifica- 
tions. Harrison was a warrior ; and there may have been 



17 

a mingling of that selfish love of military renown which 
leads many to enlist cheerfully in the work of blood. But 
every step of his military career indicates the contrary in 
his case. Let the historian speak here for a moment : 
" On the morning of the 27th, the final embarkation of the 
army on Lake Erie, commenced. The sun shone in all 
his autumnal beauty, and a gentle breeze hastened onward 
the ships to that shore, on which, it was anticipated, the 
banner of our country would have to be planted amid the 
thunder of British arms and the yells of ferocious Indians. 
While moving over the bosom of the lake — every eye en- 
chanted with the magnificence of the scene, and every 
heart panting for the coming opportunity of avenging their 
country's wrongs, — the beloved commander-in-chief caused 
the following address to be delivered to his army : 

' The General entreats his brave troops to remember 
that they are the sons of sires whose fame is immortal ; 
that they are to fight for the rights of their insulted coun- 
try, while their opponents combat for the unjust pretensions 
of a master. Kentuckians ! remember the river Raisin ; 
but remember it only, whilst victory is suspended. The 
revenge of a soldier cannot be- gratified upon a fallen 
enemy? " The latter sentiment characterized all his mil- 
itary operations, even with the savage tribes. He never 
drew his sword but for his country and for liberty. It 
was a fiery rampart to our exposed frontier ; but it blazed 
only for defence. And in alluding to his qualifications, 
we speak once more of his simplicity of character and 

3 



18 

manner. One who knew him well, says : " in personal 
address and manners, he was the very man to be popular 
in a republican government. He was no aristocrat in 
democratic disguise ; but, a people's man, he went among 
the people in the people's dress, and with the people's 
manners. Though President of the United States, any 
one could see him even from sunrise in the morning. He 
had a native courteousness united with the ease and dig-, 
nity of a Virginia republican. His countenance was good- 
ness, honesty, frankness, and disinterestedness. His eye 
was emphatically " the light of his body," a soft, spark- 
ling eye — dark, but gentle ; and though gentle, full of 
fire. Mildness and energy were hardly ever more beauti- 
fully blended." Another says, "he was condescending. 
The poor and illiterate found as ready access to him as the 
great and learned. Even the children were at home with 
him, and none but the guilty were embarrassed in his 
presence." His views of agriculture, as presented in an 
address delivered ten years ago, are so entirely accordant 
with the spirit of our institutions, so utterly opposed to 
this office-seeking, money-grasping spirit, that now infects 
the youth of our nation ; and at the same time these views 
are so strongly descriptive of the simplicity and purity of 
his character, that you will bear their introduction here. 
"The encouragement of agriculture, gentlemen, would be 
praiseworthy in any country ; in our own it is peculiarly 
so. Not only to multiply the means and enjoyments of life 
but as giving greater stability and security to our political 



19 

institutions. In all ages and in all countries, it has been 
observed, that the cultivators of the soil, are those who 
were least willing to part with their rights, and submit 
themselves to the will of a master. I have no doubt, also 
that a taste for agricultural pursuits, is the best means of 
disciplining the ambition of those daring spirits, who oc- 
casionally spring up in the world, for good or for evil, to 
defend or to destroy the liberties of their fellow-men, as 
the principles received from education or circumstances 
may tend. As long as the leaders of the Roman armies 
were taken from the plough, to the plough they were wil- 
ling to return. Never in the character of General, forget- 
ting the duties of the citizen, and ever ready to exchange 
the sword and the triumphal purple, for the homely vest- 
ments of the husbandman. 

The history of that far-famed republic is full of instances 
of this kind ; but none more remarkable than our own age 
and country have produced. The fascinations of power 
and the trappings of command were as much despised, 
and the enjoyment of rural scenes and rural employments 
as highly prized, by our Washington, as by Cincinnatus 
or Regulus. At the close of his glorious military career, 
he says, ' I am preparing to return to that domestic retire- 
ment, which, it is well known, I left with the deepest re- 
gret, and for which I have not ceased to sigh through a 
long and painful absence.' Your efforts, gentlemen, to 
diffuse a taste for agriculture amongst men of all descrip- 
tions and professions, may produce results more important 



20 

than increasing the means of subsistence, and the enjoy- 
ments of life. It may cause some future conqueror for his 
country, to end his career, 

"Guiltless of his country's blood." 

Such views in our day are of incalculable importance' 
and you will excuse their introduction while I am showing 
what we have lost, in losing such a man. And you will 
allow one other feature of his character to be mentioned ; 
his patriotism. He was born of a race that have distin- 
guished themselves as lovers of liberty. As far back as 
Charles I, we find a Harrison, boldly condemning to the 
scaffold a monarch who as much violated the law of his 
country, as any murderer does. The father of our hero 
was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who 
nobly ceded the Speaker's chair to Hancock, seizing the 
modest candidate in his athletic arms, placing him in the 
chair, and then exclaiming to the members, — "we will 
show Mother Britain how little we care for her, by 
making a Massachusetts man our President, whom she has 
excluded from pardon by a public proclamation." Such 
was the descent of Gen. Harrison. He was born and bred 
in the very school of Washington, and Adams, and Madi- 
son. And through the long course of almost half a cen- 
tury, that he was in his country's service, not an act, not a 
word, can be adduced that indicates that he preferred any 
thing to the welfare of his country, and the permanence of 
her institutions. H^ time, his property, his domestic 



21 

comfort, the temporal welfare of his family, his life, his for- 
tune, his sacred honor, were laid on his country's altar ; and 
his dying breath uttered the sentiment, that next to the fear 
of God, had lain deepest and most cherished in his heart, as 
it had been the main-spring of his wonderfully active, and 
efficient, and protracted career — "I wish you to under- 
stand THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OP THE GOVERNMENT 1 WISH 

THEM CARRIED OUT 1 ASK NOTHING MORE." Yes, departed 

sage, horseman of Israel and the chariot thereof; they shall 
be carried out, and the last earthly wish of thy noble heart 
shall be gratified ! And in his statement of the principles 
on which he would govern the country, we have an exhi- 
bition of the apparent importance of his presence at the 
helm of State. 

" Among the principles proper to be adopted by any 
Executive sincerely desirous to restore the administration 
to its original simplicity and purity, I deem the following 
to be of prominent importance : 

I. To confine his service to a single term. 

II. To disclaim all right of control over the public trea- 
sure, with the exception of such part of it as may be appro- 
priated by law to carry on the public services, and that to 
be applied precisely as the law may direct, and drawn from 
the treasury agreeably to the long established principles 
of that department. 

III. That he should never attempt to influence the elec- 
tions, either by the people or the state legislatures, nor suf- 
fer the federal officers under his control to take any other 
part in them than by giving their own votes, when they 
possess the right of voting. 



22 

IV. That in the exercise of the veto power, he should 
limit his rejection of bills to — 1. Such as are, in his opin- 
ion, unconstitutional. 2. Such as tend to encroach on the 
rights of the states or individuals. 3. Such as involving 
deep interests, may, in his opinion, require more delib- 
eration or reference to the will of the people, to be as- 
certained at succeeding elections. 

V. That he should never suffer the influence of his office 
to be used for purposes of a purely party character. 

VI. That in removals from office of those who hold their 
appointments during the pleasure of the Executive, the 
cause of such removal should be stated, if requested, to 
the Senate, at the time the nomination of a successor is 
made. 

VII. That he should not suffer the Executive depart- 
ment of the Government to become the source of legisla- 
tion ; but leave the whole business of making laws for the 
Union to the department to which the Constitution has ex- 
clusively assigned it, until they have assumed that perfect- 
ed shape when and where alone the opinions of the Exe- 
cutive may be heard." 

These are the principles which we had fondly hoped he 
was going to carry out and execute. To us, they seem 
inseparable from the dignity of that high office, essential 
to the healthful action of our political system. With such 
an exposition made by such a man, we rejoiced to see him 
going up to the highest place of power and trust. 

Such was General Harrison, considered in reference to 
the qualifications for the Presidential chair. And such is 
our loss. But it is the Lord who qualified him, who gave 
him and who has taken him. Hear then, mourning nation, 



23 

the voice of the rod. It proclaims our complete, our in- 
cessant dependence on a sovereign God. To-day let it be 
engraven on the heart of this people, and let them tell it to 
their children's children ; that " His dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion, and all the people of the earth are repu- 
ted as nothing ; and he doeth according to His will in the 
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." 

2. The dealings of Providence bring to our view our 
national and personal sins. This blow is but one of a se- 
ries. The history of the last six years recounts the re- 
sources of the Almighty hand, when he means to visit a 
nation for its sins — fires, storms, disease, wrecks, per- 
plexity, fear, murders, rumors of war, heart-burnings, vol- 
canic and subterranean thunderings of party strife — public 
distrust created by an unparalleled series of public frauds, 
and the breach of the public faith ; these have been the 
inflictions superadded to ordinary inflictions, and to which 
the vain heart of man pays too little heed, And all these 
chastisements seemed to have, through our obstinacy, one 
defect as chastisements ; they did not strike suddenly 
enough, nor with a sufficiently general effect, to make the 
nation comprehend their meaning. So this last was sent, 
and may it be the last ? This has a two-fold efficacy — it 
strikes the nation like an electric shock. Probably there 
was not a hamlet within the broad domain of our empire, 
in which the cry was not heard in less than one week from 
its occurrence — the President is dead. And it came too 



24 

just in the height and heat of the nation's enthusiasm. 
Just when they would feel it most, and when the spirit of 
man-worship was in its most lusty stage. God lifted him 
up to a nation's admiration ; but at the same time held up 
the decree — " this day have I set my king upon my 
holy hill of Zion ; be wise, now therefore, ye kings, 
and be instructed, ye judges of the earth ; serve the 
Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, 
lest he be angry." The space of one short month was 
given, that like Nineveh we might repent and avert the 
impending blow. But we repented not, and the rod fell. 
All our sins are comprehended in this one of rejecting 
Christ. And all our national sins are personal sins. And 
the appropriate spirit and employment of this day, is the 
review of our personal transgressions, and the putting 
away of our individual atheism and unbelief, our disregard 
of the supremacy of Christ, and of his precious gospel. 
He is the true patriot, who this day carries a broken heart 
to his closet, and mourns over his own and our people's 
sins ; our worldliness and love of money, our party-spirit, 
our profanation of the Sabbath, our lewdness and pro- 
faneness, our neglect of the Bible and of prayer. " Kiss 
the Son," as your Sovereign and your Savior, and let your 
entire influence be henceforth devoted to securing to him 
the faith, the homage and the praises of the nation. Let us 
repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Let the 
ministry lay aside its sins, the country, the President, the 



25 

Cabinet, the Law-makers, the Judges, the Princes, and 
the People all bow down this day before an offended God, 
and seeking the aids of his grace, promise new obedience 
to Him who was exalted, in order that to Him every knee 
might bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to 
the glory of the Father. 

3. Let as learn that we must die, and how to die. The 
dispensation that now afflicts us, impresses on our minds 
two great realities ; — that we must die ; and, that person- 
al piety is the only and the essential preparation for that 
great change. I doubt, if any event in our history has 
ever called forth so cordial, so extensive and impressive 
an expression of the genuine conviction of our country. It 
is remarkable, how earnestly the secular journals have 
echoed the question — was our noble friend prepared for 
the great change ? And it is as remarkable how full, and 
how satisfactory an answer Providence is giving to that 
inquiry. The nation is treasuring up his doings and say- 
ings ; but none give such relief to the burdened heart, as 
those which show him a penitent suppliant for mercy at 
the foot of the cross. And he did bow there, we fully 
believe. For several years the claims of his Savior, and 
the interests of his own soul had been objects of supreme 
importance in his view. And his were no superficial views 
of piety as consisting in belonging to a particular sect, or 
rendering a respectful homage to Christianity in general. 
He regarded the gospel as designed to penetrate and reno- 
vate the heart. He said to a clergyman, " I like your views 

4 



26 

of repentance ; genuine sorrow, humble confession, and a 
forsaking of sin, are the only things that can bring peace 
to the sinner, or make him a better man — " How beau- 
tifully," said he, " is the gospel adapted to the wants of the 
world. God must love the penitent more than the sinless, 
and the forgiven penitent must love God more than those 
who never sinned." And in a full accordance with our 
views of the nature and intent of the rite, he intended to 
celebrate the love of his Savior at the sacramental supper. 
But the facts are before the nation ; he loved the Bible, 
the Sabbath, the ministry, the cause of evangelical religion. 
His message, penned in the chamber where maternal 
piety taught his infant lips to lisp the Lord's prayer, pre- 
sents to the nation his sense of our dependence upon the 
power and favor of God. 

Let the nation now gather around his silent tomb. By 
that fresh grave let our young men learn to die. We ask 
the infidel there ; what do you find despicable in piety ? 
Did it make Harrison less intelligent, less energetic, less 
upright, less patriotic ? Let the soul consumed by the fe- 
verish thirst of wealth stand there and think of one whose 
character was never tainted by the foul passion, one who 
had chosen the good part that can never be taken from 
him. Let the ambitious pause in his career, and see whe- 
ther honors are worth so much, when they may be enjoyed 
so briefly, snatched away so suddenly, so early ; whether 
it is best to sell the soul and gain the world. 



27 

Let the friend of his country there see that just what we 
need in our rulers, is, that conscientiousness and disinter- 
estedness which true piety creates. He had the godliness 
which is profitable for the life that is, and for that which is 
to come. 

"It is appointed unto men once to die ; and after that, 
the judgment." Fellow citizens, are you prepared for judg- 
ment ? Could his voice be heard amidst us again, think 
you it would teach you to disregard the mercy of God and 
to despise his anger ? Oh no ; my countrymen, no. 
Pause, pause, he would say ; pause ere you rush into the 
holy presence where my soul is now standing in holy fear 
and rapture. Young men, cease to struggle for party and 
for power. Political men, cease your schemes of vain ambi- 
tion. Where are my laurels now ? Behold them already 
withered in the tomb. Where is the power and glory of 
my envied elevation ? Evaporated by one breath of dis- 
ease. Where is my soul ? Here, where no political party 
no military renown, no classic lore, no national gratitude, 
no personal worth, has raised me ; but that grace of Christ 
to which I fled, as a perishing sinner. Living, I would 
have labored for your temporal good, and I would have 
shewn )rou an imperfect though honest example of obedi- 
ence to Christ. But that was not permitted me. To my 
emancipated spirit, it is only permitted to utter one word 
more of counsel. It is this — " Be ye also ready." 









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